Marko Jaric finally flourishing with Minnesota Timberwolves

Guard more comfortable with his role

Whether Marko Jaric is playing the best basketball of his NBA career, as one Timberwolves assistant coach said, isn't that important.

What matters most is that he's playing the best basketball of his Wolves career.

Jaric has had good stretches since arriving in Minnesota with a six-year, $38 million contract in the summer of 2005. But since then, he has been known for being frustrated at losing his role as the team's starting point guard and for wanting out of Minnesota.

Now, he is getting noticed for his strong play. After Jaric helped the Wolves stun the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, assistant Jerry Sichting said the veteran is playing his best basketball.

Jaric smiled at that suggestion after Monday's practice.

"I don't know how well Jerry knows me," he said. "I definitely feel very comfortable. I can't look back in time and remember how I played. But I definitely had good stretches in L.A.; otherwise I would not be here with a six-year contract."

The Wolves' 100-93 victory over Phoenix was just their third win of the season. Jaric was a big part of it, scoring 12 points in the third quarter and giving the Wolves the momentum they needed to upset the Suns.

Jaric always has been an emotional player. When things are going well, he is active defensively and can score by driving to the basket or hitting outside jumpers. When he's frustrated or unhappy, Jaric loses focus, and it shows on the court.

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The Wolves were criticized for trading Sam Cassell and a conditional first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Jaric. But Jaric, in his third season with the Wolves, finally is displaying the ability the organization believed it was getting.

Jaric feels more comfortable now than he ever has, in part because he has a more defined role that he enjoys: a hybrid shooting guard/point guard. He has the ball often, and that's what he wants.

Last season, Jaric played small forward because there was a logjam at point guard. He averaged a career-low 5.3 points.

"We played really static," he said. "We played with basically Kevin Garnett inside and maybe Ricky Davis outside shooting. It was tough. I'm not saying it was a bad way of playing; it was just different, especially when all my life I was used to having the ball in my hands and making decisions. Right now it's a different story."

This season, Jaric is averaging 10.3 points, including 15.4 points on 57.5 percent shooting in his past seven games. He has averaged 6.1 assists in his past seven games. For Jaric, confidence is everything.

"If you're Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) and you lose your confidence, you're not going to be very effective," coach Randy Wittman said. "And (Jaric) is playing with great confidence."

Said Jaric: "The most important thing right now is to continue to play like this and to convert a couple games into W's. That's my biggest concern right now."

Wittman returns: Wittman is expected to return to the bench for tonight's game at Washington after missing three games. He said he's feeling much better after having back surgery Wednesday to repair a ruptured disk that was pinching a nerve.

"My back didn't hurt. It was really my legs," Wittman said. "The last two minutes of the Memphis game (Dec. 1), I felt like I got hit with a bolt of electricity. I had a bulging disk there, and I think it just finally gave out. I woke up (Dec. 2), and there was no way I could do anything."

Having time away from the team gave him a different perspective.

"I told our guys, I've got bigger belief in them now than I did before I left," he said, after watching his players almost overcome a big deficit at Atlanta before defeating Phoenix.

Said Jaric of Wittman's return: "Definitely, it's going to help us, but his assistants are basically like him. They even talk like him. They act like him. I was like, 'Oh my God.' Even when he was not here, it felt like he was here. But it's good to have him back."